Elder statesman and leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to regard himself as the President of Nigeria.
Addressing reporters on Monday at his residence in Abuja, he stressed the need for the President to see himself as the leader of the country and not of the Fulani tribe.
“I am appealing to Mr President that what is going on in this country today is unconstitutional; this country does not belong to Mr President or anybody alone, it belongs to everybody with equal rights,” Clark said.
He added, “Enough is enough in this country; when these people make such a reckless and irresponsible statement, no Federal Government agent or even the security agent, took action.”
The elder statesman made the remarks in response to a statement credited to a group of herders who threatened to attack Delta State for banning open grazing.
The group, according to him, is said to have issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the state to reverse its ban on open grazing in Delta. Clark faulted the purported threat and decried the failure of the President and the security agencies to condemn the action of the group.
In a bid to move the nation forward, he disclosed that he attended a meeting on Thursday last week where various political and traditional leaders among others had a series of deliberations that lasted about nine hours.
The meeting, Clark noted, was chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo with at least three former Chief Justices of Nigeria (CJNs), Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, among others, in attendance.
“We sat for nine hours; I am 94, nine hours without moving from my seat, discussing the affairs of Nigeria and how to move it forward, but a group of people – irresponsible men – are threatening us and the President and his agents kept quiet; we can no longer continue in a country where some people regard themselves as superior to the others,” he said.
He added, “Mr President should realise that it is southern Nigeria, particularly the Niger Delta, that provides the resources for the survival of this country, and any attempt by anybody to deride us will be resisted.”